Rotary Backing Plate question

imported_Dude

New member
I had a meeting in Irvine yesterday, and when it was finished I stopped by the Detailing Depot in Costa Mesa.



While I was in the store, a Meguiar's sales representative pulled up and parked in the space right next to me. The Meguiar's truck was a black Ford Expedition with "Meguiar's" decals all over it.



Interestingly, the Meguiar's truck looked great...but mine looked better! :)



Seriously, though, the Meguiar's truck was extremely well-detailed, but it was nothing exceptional. I thought that a truck from a detailing products company might emit an otherworldly glow or something, but it didn't. Most of our vehicles look just as good.



I was glad to see that most Autopians are achieving results just as good as those achieved by the professonals.
 
I was at Detailing Depot last weekend buying stuff. Owner is a real nice guy. Bought a bunch of stuff for my PC.



I'll bet that Meguiars truck has mega miles on it. It's pretty tough to keep a vehicle looking "otherwordly" when it being driven 3000 mile a month. I'll bet ya $10 they don't wash their own vehicles; prolly got mobile detailers or customers taking care of those things. Don't forget the reps job is to sell product, not to wash trucks. They can hire someone to do that.
 
I believe any car can look amazing with the proper care.....



My 1996 Z-28 was bought new in 1996 and was an outdoor, non garaged daily commuter. I drove 150 miles a day round trip for work and put about 35-40K miles a year on it. These were hard NJ turnpike miles. It did have it's share of stone chips in the hood, but from 10 feet away it looked amazing..........
 
Best thing about Detailing Depot is that they offer free detailing seminars on location by Meguiar's people. It's interesting stuff, the courses vary and are free! They last about 2.5 hours each. Next time you're at Detailing Depot, ask them about the course schedule.



BTW, I'm located about 2 mins from Detailing Depot...next time you guys head there, drop me a line!
 
They also have a maroon van I seen around town. Nothing special. Looks like maybe they take it to a car wash every other day. I don`t think it is their "show vehicle". I`m sure if there is a promo somewhere they would pack the heavy artillary. probably just their running around cehicles.



TBone
 
Can I use a 5 inch backing plate with 6.5 inch pads? Is the plate too small to be affective?

Because of the action of a rotary it is will work okay. The outer edges of the pad attached to a rotary are going to move at a fairly quick pace in a curved line, so the action is transfered to the outer edge. You will loose some cutting power, but the net effect wouldn't be as bad as using too small of a backing plate on a DA (a five inch plate with six.five inch pads for example).

A DA is constantly changing directions, so it needs the firm attachment to fully transfer it's motion.
 
Thanks for the help, everyone. I'm glad to hear that I'll be able to use the one I have right now. Just out of curiosity, which backing plates do you like and should I get a 6" plate? I was going to get a Lake Country plate, but read that they started failing on people while they were polishing. That would be no bueno. :scared:
 
I agree with them. The w66 is a great bp for your rotary to acomodate 6.5 pads. Asphault pointed me in that direction and it was one of the best purchases I made

I'm currently using W68. But curious about W66. Curious how those 2 BP compares each other. Anybody have experience with both BP, please chime in.
Thanks...
 
I'm currently using W68. But curious about W66. Curious how those 2 BP compares each other. Anybody have experience with both BP, please chime in.
Thanks...

I have both BP's. The W68 is a nice backing plate and a more traditional design. The W66 is much softer and conturs to the surface much easier. The W68 might have a slight edge in cutting power, but I like the smooth feel of the W66.
 
I have both BP's. The W68 is a nice backing plate and a more traditional design. The W66 is much softer and conturs to the surface much easier. The W68 might have a slight edge in cutting power, but I like the smooth feel of the W66.

Thanks for info. So I assumed that more rigid design contribute to more cutting power. Just wondering how much clear that i'd removed when i was using M205 + a modified/trimmed standard makita backing plate (a bit less jiggle after it's trimmed, but still jiggles badly and the rigid design even makes it worse) combined with W8207 and finished with W9207 back then (at the very 1st time i got my hand on rotary). Still can managed to achieve the desired result with no marring and hologram (i was told that keeping the pad as flat as posibble and steady hand movement are the keys to avoid holograms, but sometimes i've to add pressure to prevent pad hop with standard makita bp except for the 2 last passes - tryin to be gentle as possible), but without PTG, it's hard to tell that i haven't removed too much clear.
 
I have both BP's. The W68 is a nice backing plate and a more traditional design. The W66 is much softer and conturs to the surface much easier. The W68 might have a slight edge in cutting power, but I like the smooth feel of the W66.

When I eventually get my rotary, I will have to keep this in mind.
Thanks Todd.
 
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